Tigers and Lions
by Sparky-chan and Hikumi-chan
Summary: The last time he checked, lions didn't go for tigers. StevexTony, Stony, whatever the pairing name for this ship is.
1. Chapter 1

Steve was a lion. He was brave and courageous. A leader. He had been Tony's idol as a child. Of course, Tony had eventually grown up as all children do. But he had always held a special place in his heart for the star-spangled super soldier. And admiration had quickly turned into a begrudging affection once they had met face to face, despite their arguing. And now that they were all living together like one big psycho family in Stark Towers, Tony had begun to notice that affection was turning into something more. But Tony was also aware of the fact that nothing could happen between them. While Steve may have been a lion, Tony was a tiger. And the last time he checked, lions didn't often get with tigers.

Tony managed to handle himself for a while. But it was around the time that Tony realized he was beginning to stare at the captain and get jealous of every single girl he talked to that Tony also realized handling this wouldn't be as easy as he thought it would be.

And so Tony decided to deal with this the same way he dealt with any sort of trouble he found he either couldn't or wouldn't deal with. He locked himself in his lab, spending hours and days working on improving the suit. The only other person who could get in was Pepper and she, thank whatever deity was watching at the time, only made him leave when he had an appearance to make.

But even Pepper had her limits.

"Tony," The tone in her voice made said playboy look up. That was her 'Time-to-do-it-my-way' tone. "You need to get out of the lab. You have over a hundred urgent emails to answer and- hey." Fingers snapped in front of Tony's face, making him zone out of the project running through his mind to focus on the red head standing in front of him with her hands on her hips. Oh god. That never boded well for him. But he waved his hand and turned back to the gauntlet lying on the table in front of him.

"Relax, Peps, I'll just have Jarvis go through them later. Jarvis!"

_Right away, Master Stark. Shall I—_

"Jarvis, don't." Bright green eyes turned on Tony and Pepper crossed her arms. "Tony, you can't keep avoiding whatever it is that's bothering you."

"What? That's totally absurd, I—"

"Zip it. We both know you are. And we both know exactly what it is, too." Tony opened his mouth to protest but the look Pepper gave him had his response dying away in his throat. "Now, I'll give you today. But tomorrow you had better be upstairs in your office and attending to those important emails, got it?" Tony nodded. "Good." And with that, Pepper left, leaving behind the tools and parts Tony had requested. The billionaire genius stared at them for several moments before sighing.

As usual, Pepper was right. Tony couldn't just keep hiding down here. He had to go up and deal with his problem. If Steve didn't feel the same way, so be it. So things would be a little(or incredibly) awkward for a while. Tony was not the type to just let something go without taking care of, even if he did put it off for a while. Standing, Tony entered the elevator and reached out to press the button that would take him to Steve's floor. He changed his mind at the last minute, however, and hit the button that went to his penthouse. If he was going to do this, he was going to need a shower.

And maybe some alcohol.

Well, it's done. It's been bugging me all night and now it's done. Read, please review. I'll have the next part up soon!


	2. Chapter 2

Tony Stark exhaled slowly as he walked into the living room, looking around for the obect of his affection. He spotted Steve sitting on the couch, staring at the tv remote as if it was some sort of difficult puzzle. Which it probably was to him. Tony smiled wryly and made his way to the couch, sitting down beside his friend.

"You look a little confused there, Cap." The blonde jumped, having apparently not noticed Tony sit down beside him. He smiled that adorable sheepish smile only he could pull off and sat up a little straighter.

"Tony, uhm, hi! Yeah, I..." Steve looked back down at the remote, turning it over in his hands. "I was trying to figure out how to turn on the tv." He didn't resist as Tony took the remote from him, glancing down at it.

"Well, it might help if you had the tv remote and not the one for the vcr." Tony grinned at the blush that crept up Steve's neck and set the remote down on the table. Maybe this wouldn't be as hard as he thought. Sucking in a deep breath, Tony turned to Steve, trying to resist the urge to wring his hands. "Hey, Steve?"

"Yeah, To-!" Steve's eyes widened when Tony's lips suddenly met his. He sat there for a moment in shock and Tony was just about to pull back... when Steve punched him in the jaw. The millionaire grunted as he hit the floor and lay there dazed for a few moments. Next thing he knew, Steve was kneeling beside him, holding Tony's head in his lap.

"Holy _crap_, you just punched me." Steve's eyes were wide and apologetic and if Tony hadn't been so stunned he probably could have been convinced to just forget about it.

"I'm _so _sorry, Tony, I... you just really startled me! I didn't know what to do!" Tony fixed the captain with an incredulous gaze.

"And so you punched me? Jesus, I hate to see what you do when a guy hits on ya." Steve blushed and helped Tony sit up, looking down at his hands.

"I'm... really sorry." He mumbled, scratching the back of his neck. Tony stared at him a few moments before shaking his head.

"No. I am. Peps always said I shouldn't be so impulsive. I guess she was right." Tony stood, brushing his pants off. "I think I'm just gonna go back to the lab now." Tony started to move when Steve grabbed his wrist.

"You can't just kiss me and leave!" Tony turned, sarcastic remark dying away in his throat when he saw the cap's expression.

"I... I'm not leaving." He shifted slightly, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm just going somewhere else for a little while." Or a long while, Tony thought. Maybe he could get Pepper bring a minifridge to the lab so he'd never have to leave it again. Looking at Steve's face though, Tony knew that wasn't going to work. So he sat back down with a heavy sigh and ran his fingers through his scruffy hair before looking over to the object of his affections. The blonde held his gaze for a few moments longer than he probably should have before looking down at the bruise already beginning to form on Tony's jaw.

"Are you okay? ... Let me get you something for it." Tony nodded and Steve got up only to return a few moments later with a cold steak. Tony stared at it, arching an eyebrow, but held his tongue as Steve leaned forward and pressed the cold meat against his jaw. "... It... wasn't half bad, you know."

"What, the kiss?" Steve nodded slowly and Tony started to laugh but stopped when his jaw throbbed. "I -ahem- I see. Well..." Tony flashed Steve as charming a grin as he could. "I guess I can suffer through the pain then." Steve smiled slowly and leaned back as Tony reached up to hold the steak himself.

"I wouldn't mind trying it again... Without the punching this time, of course." A smirk slowly slid across Tony's face.

"Of course. So... Would you by any slim chance want to go out on a date with me?" Steve went quiet and for a brief moment, Tony thought the captain might actually say _no_, but then Steve smiled and nodded.

"Yeah. Sounds great."

Ughhh, I'm so sorry for the crapola that is this chapter e.e... But it's been sooo long and I felt so bad about keeping you guys waiting xP! Oh well. Feel free to review. I'm gonna go and just, you know, crawl back into my shell...


End file.
